Miners will have to hire locals

Mining companies will have to outline the social costs of establishing fly-in, fly-out operations in central Queensland under laws to be introduced by the Bligh government.

The companies will also have to find some of their staff from the towns near their mines, to quell growing unrest in some small towns in the Bowen Basin, where the locals feel they are being overlooked in this resources boom.

Queensland Treasurer
Andrew Fraser
said while fly-in, fly-out workers were a reality in the modern mining industry, the new principles would require companies to assess the social effect of their workforce mix as part of the government’s approval process.

Companies would also have to submit a housing strategy that included the accommodation and location preference for workers.

“Industry, communities and all tiers of government share responsibility for achieving a balanced approach to the social and economic development of resource communities," Mr Fraser told state parliament yesterday.

“Like most policy challenges, competing interests must be balanced. This will help spread the benefits from the resource investment boom more broadly."

Mr Fraser said mining workers had a choice where they wanted to live, with a growing number choosing to live on the coast and commute to the pits for “five days on/five days off" shifts.

The BHP-Mistubishi Alliance is awaiting approval for a 100 per cent fly-in, fly-out workforce for its new Caval Ridge coalmine, something which has angered the residents of Moranbah.

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Under the government’s new housing strategy, resource companies must attempt to achieve a mix of outside and local workers.

“Resource projects must, where practicable and sustainable, locate a proportion of their operational workforce in resource towns to support growth and the liveability of these towns," the new policy said.

Premier
Anna Bligh
admitted that with 38 projects, including 23 coalmines, in the pipeline over the next six years, it would be hard to source all workers locally.

The federal government this week announced a parliamentary inquiry into fly-in, fly-out workforces.